Archaeologists Use Carbon Dating on Camel Bones, Say Bible Is Wrong

Archaeologists that are located in Israel have used radiocarbon dating to identify when domestic camels arrived in the Middle East, and what they discovered in the study of science completely contradicts what the Bible has recorded as what happened. Camels are declared to be pack animals in the biblical tales of Abraham, Joseph and Jacob. These are Old Testament stories in which historians place around 2000 and 1500 B.C. However, Erez Yosef and Lidar Hen, both of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Archaeology and Near Eastern Cultures state that the animals were not domesticated in Israel until many centuries later. They believe it was closer to 900 B.C.

Not only do they believe this challenges the Bible’s historicity, this archaism is thought to be straight proof that the biblical texts were all written long after the various events that have been described, declared a press release which announced the research that was found.

In order to test the first camel, Hen and Yosef used radiocarbon dating in order to study the oldest known camel bones that had been found in the Arabian Peninsula. Also found were the relics of a copper melting camp located around the Aravah Valley. It runs next to the border of Jordan from the Red Sea over to the Dead Sea.

The camel bones were located inside archaeological deposits which dated from the last part of the 10th century B.C. or even later. That was centuries after the headmen lived and many decades after the Kingdom of David existed, the Bible stated, according to the researchers. The very few camel bones which had been found in much earlier archaeological sheets most likely belonged to wild camels. The archaeologists believe they lived in the region during the Neolithic era or even before that.

Remarkably, each one of the sites that were active in the 9th century inside the Aravah Valley contained camel bones, but not one of the locations which were active any earlier contained them. The introduction of the camel into this region was very important for both social and economic development, stated Yosef. By being able to study the archaeological left overs that were from the copper construction sites inside the Aravah Valley, they were able to figure out the date of when this event occurred in terms of decades instead of looking at it at centuries.

By having domesticated camels arrive in the Middle East helped to encourage trade between Israel and various locations that had been inaccessible any time before, stated the researchers. The camels were able to travel over much farther distances than donkeys or mules. It ended up opening trade routes such as the Incense Road which ran from Africa through Israel to India.

Where the Aravah Valley is located made it a reasonable pathway for camel riders to have trailed. The original arrival of camels is believed to have been the result of Egyptian law at the time. The scientists stated that the domesticated camels ended up making Israel a center of international trade. The archaeologists used radiocarbon dating to identify when domestic camels arrived in the Middle East.

There are images of domesticated camels in the temple of Abu Simbel (built around 1264 BCE). These images show how Rameses II used domesticated camels to carry supplies to present day Syria, where he was ambushed by the Hittites at the battle of Kadesh somewhere around 1270 BCE. Maybe they just haven’t found the older camel bones yet!

I have left some remarks earlier today regarding the finding of camels in the Middle East to recognize they were. However, this article is more accurate. It mentions wild camels were living there from early days. One needs to know what one is dealing with. There are several possibilities here: 1) Abraham might have used wild camels to move his people from Ur in Chaldee to what would become Israel at the 3re generation; 2) the dates are relatively close, about a thousand years in both ways, when the patriarchs lived and when the camels were domesticated.. The carbon dating is not that accurate that you can give a single year as accurate. So, yes or no did Abraham used camels for his big move is really up to us to believe or not if the Bible (Torah) is veridique.

The entrails of an owl are never wrong…it’s just that other people interpret them erroneously. Only I know the the true interpretations….everyone else who disagrees with my interpretations are incorrect!